Posted on 08/01/2011 7:01:31 AM PDT by Liberty1970
Beware the Unveiling of the 1 MW Reactor in October
For months those of us watching the E-Cat story unfold have been eagerly looking forward to the last week in October and the unveiling of the first 1 megawatt thermal reactor at Defkalion's factory in Greece. Andrea Rossi has steadfastly refused to provide more public evidence for the reality of the E-cat, pointing instead to the 1 MW reactor operation as the proof everyone should be waiting for.
Skeptics and believers alike have cited this date as well, indicating that we will all know by the end of October whether the world has changed and the Energy Catalyzer is for real.
Or will we?
Rossi, in recent communications, has indicated that some 'elite' American scientists will be at the unveiling of the 1 MW reactor, as well as physicists Dr. Brian Josephson (Nobel laureate), Drs. Kullander and Essen of Sweden, and Dr. Levi. Once concern I have here is that all those named have previously given public statements of support for the E-cat. Not that I expect Rossi to invite his enemies or competitors, but it would be nice to know there are some scientists coming who are not part of Rossi's cheerleading squad, as it were.
Moreover, this event simply cannot be a repeat of the frustrating public demonstrations given earlier this year, which provide evidence but not proof of the operation of the E-Cat. I've frequently heard people comment that you 'can't fake a 1 MW reactor' as if that scale of operation simply can't be performed with hidden, mundane, power generation.
Hogwash. Given the scope of this whole story and the hundreds of millions of dollars already on the table, it would be a simple thing to go to the trouble of pumping 1 MW of electricity into the array of 330 E-Cats with hidden power lines and convert it to thermal energy using resistance heaters embedded in the false E-Cat devices. (I don't think batteries or other on-board power generation would be sufficient for this stage of the scam, if scam it is.)
In recent weeks we've been hearing about how Defkalion is asking for $40 million euros for exclusive manufacturing rights in each country from franchise purchasers. This strikes me as bizarre. Why should I pay as much to supply Luxembourg or Albania as someone else pays for the U.S. or Japan? Why not auction off the franchises to the highest bidder once proof has been established? (That's probably a naive way to go about it too, but strikes me as better than one flat price as I've currently heard.)
The $40 million price tag raises a red flag for me. I hope I'm wrong, but I wonder how many people are willing to take the risk and hand over that kind of money now, or will jump to do so as soon as they see the 1 MW reactor running in October. If this is a scam, that's where the big money is.
So that's my fear - that the 1 MW reactor will turn out to be a fake, but one that pulls in hundreds of millions of euros in the first few weeks before things start to really fall apart as promised shipments of E-cats to independent sources (outside of Rossi's control at last) fail to materialize. My message to Rossi and the folks at Defkalion is: you've still got more than two months. Use it to plan out how you intend to PROVE to us, your customer base and the world at large, that the E-cat is real.
Don't have the E-cat array hidden or embedded in conrete - have it up in as accessible a configuration as possible. Every hose, every power line, anything that could carry a wire should be accessible for inspection and independent metering as applicable. Let the scientists (including some heretofore uncommitted ones) and journals have full access to the setup (as much as safety allows). Have some single E-cats also set up, operational and available for inspection and metering. Let the visitors bring their own equipment for inspection and metering. I understand you need to keep some trade secrets, but find ways to let independent researchers prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the E-cat is doing what you say it is doing, without any hidden power sources.
Engage the honest skeptics now to understand what we'd like to see, what we need to see, to really satisfy everyone. Please.
My gut feeling is that if this were a truly viable and real system, they wouldn't need suggestions on how to verify it. Good science operates in the open.
Also, does anyone have a source for the report that Defkalion is selling franchises? All I can find right now are blogs and discussion boards mentioning it, nothing official. I hope I'm not muddling any facts.
The lack of openness is starting to get to me.
So far all its produced are promises and hype.
My guess is that the ‘secrecy’ is because the ‘technology’ is so simple and could be built in anybodies’ garage with off-the-shelf- parts. The Chinese are going to steal it, that’s a given. The rest of the world will makes them on their own using whatever scheme they can to copy it. The Rossi Group wants to make as much money as they possibly can as fast as they can before the design gets viral on the internet and every redneck on earth has one in their back yard.................
Why not just wait until the thing is unveiled? It will either “fly” or it will not. What is 40 million Euros to a person with the money to spend? I know I know, it is their own money, and if they fork it over without absolutely KNOWING what they are buying, it is their problem.
Of course, once an E-cat finally ships to a private customer none of this will be necessary. The problem is with any financial risks being born until that point.
There have been lots of scams where even ordinary goods were promised for upfront money, only to have the schemers abscond with the funds before anything was delivered.
I’ve been following this story from a strictly non-scientific prospective (I’m an Accountant, and only took 1 college level course in general chemistry). All I can say is if this guy is a con-artist he must be a dang good one to have to have fooled governments, companies, and many in the scientific establishment and to what end? He must surely know that if this turns out be a fraud, he’s going to be run out of town on a rail and probably end up in the big house for fraud if he accepts all this money on something he knows does not work.
The more interesting question is nothing about this flimflammery of cold-fusionism, but rather why people, and Americans in particular, are so eager to be taken in by charlattans. I really want to know. Is American self-esteem so low that we feel flattered to become the marks of these montebanks? Given the hopelessness of our policital and economic mess, I could understand that.
An advantage of such a scheme is that if the E-cat doesn't work, it is not clear that the purchasers have been defrauded. They would still have exclusive manufacturing rights. The rights would simply be for a device that doesn't work. It would all depend on how the contract were worded. An important detail would be what court had jurisdiction and who the enforcing authority would be.
You only have to look at software contracts to see that it is easy to write a contract which completely protects the seller and leaves the buyer with no effective recourse.
It hardly will do for Rossi to point to a black box and say there's eleven different herbs and spices in there doing things no one can really understand or explain. For forty million bucks I'd want to not only look at the horse's mouth but use a proctoscope on him.
Rossi or anyone else could watch the tests but without interference.
David Copperfield, the illusionist, could fool Nobel winners as easily as he does the rest of us.
My best guess is that the E-cat is a scam. However argueing that there is a "consensus" that something cannot work is rather risky.
It reminds me of Al Gore and the anthropogenic global warming scandal. Eminent scientists "proved" that heavier than air aircraft were impossible, that space flight was impossible, that nuclear reactions were not usable for any practical purpose.
Americans have had lots of experience where "experts" who say things are impossible are proved wrong.
When the scam falls apart there will be conspiracy theories about governments and oil companies keeping this great wonder from the people.
Thanks for the positive feedback.
I haven't heard that the E-cat violates the law of gravity, for example, so your comment struck me as over-the-top. Granted it doesn't fit with existing orthodox theories, but science would never advance if it became fossilized and results and theories challenging existing models were never allowed to be considered. So I have to be more open-minded than that.
That's a very, very interesting and insightful observation. Hmmm...
Think of it as a car. No, that is not the way to sell franchises because of the varying population counts. Put one worldwide price on the unit and shove it out the door. The wealthiest people will be the first to buy, then five years later when it needs to be refueled your second hand market will appear. The wealthiest people will then be buying the newer model and selling their old model.
Why would I give you $10M to sell to a country that only has 5M people in it when I can give you the same 5M to sell in a country that has 500M?
http://www.defkalion-energy.com/
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